


Match-Made Mapmakers

by TattersTheBat



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Adventure, Bugs & Insects, F/M, Gen, Married Couple, More focusing on the journey bc I'm bad at writing romance, sfw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29336151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TattersTheBat/pseuds/TattersTheBat
Summary: Iselda has finally tired of quiet life in Dirtmouth, and she decides to take her husband up on his offer to bring her along on a trip down into the ruined kingdom below. Perhaps this is the adventure she has been craving... after all, SOMEONE needs to protect the cartographer while he sits humming carefree, right?
Relationships: Cornifer/Iselda (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Late Night Revelations

It had been so long since she had heard the sound of metal on metal, the powerful feeling of defeating a tough opponent with nothing but a mighty nail. She had once been so great at fighting, such a formidable combatant… where did it all go? She knew exactly where. It had practically vanished the moment she made her decision to stay up in this dreary town…

Iselda didn’t mind her new life. It was boring for the most part, but an exciting life wasn’t always a good one. In comparison, these times were simpler, kinder to her, and well, she was happy. Even if she sometimes dreamed of returning her nail to her hand and venturing into the ruins her husband seemed so obsessed over… the promise that Cornifer would always return kept her sane between his long journeys.

If only he didn’t sleep so long…

Each time the mosquito opened the door, he said a groggy “Hi, sweetie” and then dropped off his maps and went to bed. She couldn’t blame him - how could she? He was always off on some new venture, marking down every exact detail of each region he came across. He seemed to enjoy it, so who was she to judge? She still loved him, even after all this time, though he wished he would spend more time by her side…

More than once, he offered to bring her along. Perhaps hypocritically, she denied the offers - after all, someone had to manage their small shop in the fading town of Dirtmouth. Even though… well, they only had one customer. A small, silent type, that seemed to drift in and out of town wordlessly. Only occasionally did it stop into the shop to pick up a map it did not already have, or to request the marking pins that she had crafted in her spare time. It always had the geo to pay for it, so she didn’t think anything of it.

Now though, even that small creature hadn’t shown up in quite some time. As she sighed at the desk of the tiny shop, she turned her head to her snoring husband. Perhaps… perhaps it was time that she finally got out of this place. She didn’t admit it but, she had finally grown a sense of longing for adventure. Each time her gaze met with Cornifer’s maps, she saw little details, his own personal touches that made landmarks apparent. He put such effort into these intricate additions… he was truly a master of his craft.

She couldn’t do much while he was asleep, but… a journey to rediscover herself alongside her husband was seeming more and more appealing.  
Gentle as to not disturb the sleeping cartographer, Iselda crouched down, opening a small cupboard of sorts beneath the counter. She carefully displaced a few quills, finally finding what she was looking for; a nail, the blade fine and sharp, though battered with dust from neglect. Gripping its handle, she pulled it off of the shelf. Even just holding her old weapon, it felt… strange. It was like she had been forcefully thrown back in time!

She held the nail aloft, pointing it over the counter while silently hoping nobody would walk in to embarrass her. She carefully swung it to and fro, remembering techniques she hadn’t used in about a decade if not much longer. She found that she was giggling to herself, as if the nail had reawakened a childlike wonder.

Then, her nail collided with the wall, producing a slight echoing, metallic noise. She held her breath, her stare snapping to her husband, stirring in his deep slumber. His eyes slowly broke open, looking at his wife with confusion.

“Did you hear something, Iselda?” He said in a half-asleep tone, stretching one arm as he slowly sat up a bit on the bunk. He looked quite silly without his glasses on, that was something the taller mosquito had always noticed.

Iselda wasn’t quite sure how to respond. She hadn’t entirely confirmed her decisions yet, and this was all falling into place very quickly… but she finally decided to make her choice known. After all, he was the love of her life - he deserved to know her plans, especially since he was involved.

“Sorry for waking you, Corny.” She prefaced in a sweet voice. “I was just thinking and… I think I would like to accompany you on your next trip. What do you say?” She planted her nail’s tip gently into the floor, leaning on it as she looked at her husband, his eyes carrying a look of surprise.

“O-of course!” He finally said after a beat of silence. “I would love to have you join me! What of the shop, though?”

“We don’t get very much business anyway. Besides, I would rather make sure you don’t get hurt by any of the horrible beasts down there.” She tacked on the reasoning, despite the fact that Cornifer needed no convincing to let her tag along. She was sure he was just as happy as she would be, that the two of them would finally get to spend some time with each other.

“Okay dear.” Cornifer nodded, before yawning and stretching his arms. “Juuust a few more hours, okay?”

Iselda only giggled. Always such a sleepyhead… but she made no remark other than a returning nod, placing her nail gently against the store’s wall and leaning against the counter, humming to herself with a greater air of joy than normal. After a few moments, she heard the telltale, loud snoring of her husband returning to the land of dreams.

She smiled, turning to a small pile next to the counter; all of Cornifer’s maps were neatly stacked there. She picked up the top one, from his most recent adventure - it was a region called the Fungal Wastes. Many of the caverns seemed almost labyrinthine… it was a good thing she had married a cartographer, she supposed! Even though she had seen it before, she occupied quite a bit of her time simply looking over the map, admiring Cornifer’s dexterity in drawing out each twist, each turn, each landmark.

Was she selfish for wanting her husband to stay home more often? She didn’t think so, but yet the thought lashed itself at her brain every so often. Why keep such a skilled mapmaker away from such useful work? Then again, it was rarely bought - which was just a shame! Perhaps she could pitch it to him to try to sell his maps to other adventurers actively, rather than simply sitting and drawing for hours on end once he found a safe place…

With all of these thoughts swirling in her head like a vortex, she didn’t even notice how tired she was. She found her head falling, as it connected with the soft parchment of her husband’s map, using it like a pillow as her eyelids closed, joining her spouse in a deep sleep. Surely with how desolate the shop was, it wouldn’t hurt her to snooze - that’s the last thought that occupied her headspace as she slumbered.

In her dream, she found herself venturing into Hallownest, but not as she was now - this was some sort of memory-born trip, back when she was in her ‘glory days’ so to speak. She was not lucid, simply an outside observer as her younger self hacked and slashed at beasts all throughout the kingdom. Despite the clarity of her form, the environment was not familiar in the slightest, likely invented based on the loose scraps she could recall of that time.

Iselda’s sleeping face gained a happy look to it, hardly visible with the features that defined her as a mosquito. Perhaps she’d finally get to return to that, with her loving husband by her side no less. Everything darkened, and before she knew it… it was morning, or as close to it as the underground kingdom could experience, no sky making itself known above the tall cliffs surrounding the town they resided in at Hallownest’s outskirts.


	2. Down The Well

“Wake up…” The words came in a familiar voice, several times over. After the most recent one echoed to her ears, Iselda’s eyelids slid open, revealing to her the face of her beloved husband. She picked her head up off of the counter.

“Hoho, what a surprise this is.” He said gently to her. “Usually you’re the one waking me up! Did you sleep well?”

“...Indeed I did.” She nodded happily, her posture fixing itself as she stretched her arms out. The proposition she made late yesterday was no part of her dreams - it seemed that her husband was ready to depart, this time with her by his side.

“Are you ready? I have a wonderful journey planned.”

“Let me write a note, in case any customers stop by.” She selected a quill from the bounty under the desk, alongside a scrap of parchment she used to quickly write up a notice, detailing that she and Cornifer would be back soon. Swiftly, she reread what she wrote, making sure no grammatical errors or confusing wording were present - she had just woken up, after all.

Satisfied with her writing, she nodded to Cornifer, grabbing her nail from against the wall as her husband opened the door. Both of them stepped out into Dirtmouth proper, Iselda having to duck a small amount to make it through. She turned and pasted the paper to the door, keeping it straight and professional.

Cornifer waited the entire time, watching his wife make the preparations. He had a very pleased look about him - it had been some time since he and Iselda went out anywhere together. He felt quite bad about how exhausted he was after his travels, but there was just such a world to see out here! He was giddy that his dear wife had finally accepted his invitation to explore the depths of the kingdom.

Over by the metallic bench in the middle of town, a matured voice echoed over, belonging to the hunched form of Elderbug, perhaps the oldest resident left in the fading town. He made a noise to clear his throat, as if to gather the cartographers’ attention before he addressed them.

“Are you two going out together?” He asked, not with any judgemental tone, but one of near concern. “It’s quite dangerous, you know, and you two are some of the only residents this place has left…”

“You’re worrying too much.” Cornifer said with a chuckle. “If anything, I’m safer with her accompanying me - she’s quite the fighter, you know!”

Iselda giggled in response at that comment, making a point to make her nail more visible to the elderly resident.

“We’ll return before you know it, and you can rest easy.” She assured him.

Elderbug couldn’t say anything further on the matter even if he wanted to, for the two of them began walking towards the disheveled well at the town’s border. For a moment, Iselda’s gaze wandered up, seeing the metallic glint of the decommissioned lift into the peaks far above, said to contain brilliant pink crystals…

“Do you recall how to descend the well, Iselda?” Cornifer broke the silence, wandering to the other side of the pit as he looked down past the stone rim. “It has been quite some time.”

“You needn’t worry, Corny!” She held back laughter - how preposterous that she’d forget such a simple task! She wasn’t THAT old… regardless, as if to make a point to her spouse, she leaned over the well’s wall and put both hands onto the chain, feeling cold in her grip as she climbed down the hole, Cornifer following closely behind.

Within no time, they both reached the bottom of the well, looking around the area. The entire cavern seemed bathed in a dull, blue color, utterly devoid of life save for the telltale steps of infected, mindless husks about. It arguably seemed to grow more dreary each day.

“Which way is our route?” Iselda questioned. Cornifer unraveled one of the maps he had placed into the large pack he carried upon his back - a map of Greenpath, a verdant region down the left corridor from their current location. He traced a finger from its entrance down to an opening at the bottom.

“There.” He confirmed. “Down there should be an area I have yet to trace - I do believe I passed through it once, however.”

With their path set, the couple walked across the cool soil of the cave, maneuvering past feral crawlids without too much effort until they reached the edge of the room. Cornifer put up a hand to stop his wife from going too much farther.

“Careful, there’s quite the drop here!” He warned. Indeed, they had come to the next chamber - some sort of large, abandoned storeroom. Many scale-like platforms stood attached to chains in large columns. Adjacent and down from their current position, a specific ledge stood out, decorated with brilliant foliage dotted with small flowering plants.

Getting a running start, Cornifer managed to leap to the solid platform above all of the scales, turning and watching as Iselda did the same. The taller mosquito felt a rush - she hadn’t done any sort of acrobatic maneuver in a while! It felt good to free her stiff joints a little. She simply gave her husband a polite smile, nodding as they descended further through the room.

Just as it looked like they were only a few jumps away from their immediate destination, Cornifer looked over the edge, surprising his wife as he suddenly jumped straight down. She put out a hand as if to catch him, but then heard the unmistakable FLUMP of him hitting the leaves, harmlessly.

“Ahahaha! I will never tire of that!” He called up from below, lifting himself from the bushes and waving up to Iselda. “Come on down, it’s safe, I promise!”

“You have that pack to cushion you!”

“And you’re nimbler than I, you can make it, I’m certain!”

“...Very well.” She took a deep breath and leaped down, crashing into the shrubs. It was a prickly sensation at first, but past the initial layer was nothing but soft plant fiber. Her exoskeleton was intact, so she simply steadied her breathing and stood up, invigorated. “I suppose that was kind of fun!”

“When you have a lot of ground to cover, you find ways to entertain yourself!” He explained cheerfully as they continued their journey into Greenpath, passing a large sign seeming to be detailed with symbols representing a population - the fabled Pilgrim’s Way, marked in Hallownest’s prime to lead bugs to the capitol.

They stepped over a small stone ledge, approaching an underhang as Cornifer looked up and down warily. Iselda was about to reach for her nail, in case something was waiting in ambush he was afraid of, before he calmed her nerves with an explanation.

“There used to be quite the nasty creature here, blocking the path.” He told her, looking back at her as he adjusted his spectacles. “Someone must have dealt with it - it was simply gone when I arrived to map out Greenpath.”

Despite no immediate threat, Iselda decided to keep a mental note of that - there might have been more of whatever that creature’s kind was, lying in wait to get their vengeance. All it took was being in the wrong place at the wrong time… but there was no reason to sully this stroll with such worries, so she placed it in the back of her mind as they made their way across a few platforms placed haphazardly out of bubbling, steaming acid pools.

Any other bug could be quite terrified when having to leap and climb across such a treacherous expanse, but these two were of the thick shell variety - they knew very well they could survive exposure to the acid, so long as it wasn’t for too long of a time. So, the movement across the small acid lake was quite nonchalant.

Finally, they reached the other side, passing into another part of the abundantly-flowering region - into Greenpath proper. Cornifer took out his map of the area again, tracing over the planned route several times as if to memorize it so they wouldn’t get lost. What a tale it would be - not one, but two mapmakers becoming unable to find their way. It would be quite embarrassing.

Iselda patiently waited, looking at her husband’s handiwork over his shoulder. Such a steady hand had crafted these maps, with a lot of care and love. It certainly made him happy, and it brought in geo when they did get the rare customer, so she had no complaints overall.


End file.
